New USB Standard Will Double The Speed

Despite getting off to a somewhat rocky start, USB Type-C cables have been a boon to computer users everywhere by providing bidirectional transfer capabilities, which essentially gives Type-C cables two “lanes” to work with.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group recently announced that things are about to get even better and faster when they released the new USB 3.2 specification.

In brief, it takes advantage of the bidirectional transfer features offered by Type-C cables, which means that you’ll soon have two lanes. Each provides 5GB per second, for a total of 10, which is double the speed of USB 3.1 connections.

From a practical standpoint, it means that a USB 3.2 host connecting to a USB 3.2 device can achieve data transfer rates that far exceed 2GB per second transfer rates. As ever, the new 3.2 standard will remain backwards compatible with older USB 3.X devices, so you won’t have to worry about losing connectivity as you begin to make the switch.

Brad Saunders, the Chairman of the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, had this to say:

“When we introduced USB Type-C to the market, we intended to assure that USB Type-C cables and connectors certified for SuperSpeed USB or SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps would, as produced, support higher performance USB as newer generations of USB 3.0 were developed. The USB 3.2 update delivers the next level of performance.”

There are two key takeaways here. The first is that you can continue using your USB Type-C cables without having to worry whether they will support the next generation of USB 3.2 devices. Second, the announcement ensures that more and more manufacturers will begin using Type-C cables, making it the new de facto standard. Given that speed is life in business, and every incremental improvement in speed matters, that’s a very good thing.